by William Wordsworth (1770 - 1850)
The world is too much with us; late and...
Language: English
The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon; The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers; For this, for everything, we are out of tune; It moves us not. -- Great God! I'd rather be A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn; So might I, standing on this pleasant lea; Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.
R. Ascham sets lines 1-8
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Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Dominick Argento (1927 - 2019), "Epilogue: De Profundis", 1973 [ soprano or tenor, clarinet or bass clarinet, and piano ], from To be sung upon the water, no. 8 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Roger Ascham (1864 - 1934), "The world is too much with us", op. 22 (Twelve Songs with Pianoforte Accompaniment) no. 8 (1882-1899), published c1910, lines 1-8 [ voice and piano ], London, Charles Vincent [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Melinda Bargreen , "The world is too much with us", 2017 [ tenor or baritone and piano ], from In Fields Where Roses Fade, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Ton van der Steenhoven
This text was added to the website: 2009-12-20
Line count: 14
Word count: 117